Sunrise
by Arithilim
Summary: The harbingers of morning ride aflame - AU, H/D


**A/N: My first post for my personal prompt challenge. Yay!!! Likely not my very best work, and definitely a bit odd, but it was one of those things that wouldn't leave me alone once it insidiously got inside my head. And huge yay because this is my very first HP story posted!! I find it highly ironic actually that it's this story, when I have much better ones I'm working on. But then, I'm not done with those and I am with this, so here goes :D**

Prompt 1 – Sunrise

It's night. The many fires blaze against the darkness. The smell of smoke and blood and burning flesh filters in – the smell of death.

The battle has already raged for hours, since the morning before when dark forces were first spotted on the fringes of the forest. It was bloody, desperate fighting, and before lunchtime the deaths were in the hundreds. By mid-afternoon they had topped one thousand.

It was brutal and ugly warfare. Spells the light side might once have hesitated to cast now rolled off all tongues. This was a fight for survival. No one said it, but the knowledge hung above them anyways – if Hogwarts fell, so would the Light. Desperation brings out viciousness previously inconceivable, and oh, were they desperate.

Despite this, the Light forces were slowly yet surely pushed by suppertime, Voldemort's army had breached the castle walls, burning and blasting as they went. The Great Hall was captured and the Dark Lord himself set up his court there amidst the bodies of the fallen defenders. God help the captured – burned alive in pyres or worse. Everyone remaining had been evacuated to upper floors.

Finally they managed to halt the enemy's advance at the stairs. They had height to their advantage and the narrow passage allowed them to pick off any Death Eaters that dared approach. The battle screeched to a standstill and turned to a siege. All there was left to do was wait.

It's in the last watches of the night as Harry sits, his back against the stone wall of the corridor. The last remnants of the castle's fighters move about hollowed eyed and haunted, speaking shortly in hushed tones when they spoke at all. The current hold has done nothing to cheer them. The dark foreboding of impending doom weighs heavily on them all. It's only a matter of time now.

The long night has taken a heavily toll, the pervasive weariness setting in even as the sleepless hours tick by filled with constant fear of the end coming. They are waiting, all of them.

Beside Harry sits Draco Malfoy, his head resting on Harry's shoulder as he restlessly sleeps. A year ago this would have been surprising to Harry. A year ago he didn't understand what fear and love could drive a person to.

The white blond head stirs as Draco wakes, slowly sitting up.

"What time is it?" he asks.

Harry shrugs. "Who knows? All is darkness now."

Draco studies the far wall. "We're going to die," he says blankly.

"Yes," Harry agrees because there is nothing else to say.

Draco studies the wall some more and Harry studies Draco. He is so, so pale in the dim light. He might as well already be a ghost. Harry thinks he's never looked so beautiful. Amidst the hall of hushed voices and flickering torches, there is something almost ethereal about him, as if Draco Malfoy was already removed from humanity.

"I don't want it to end this way," Draco says abruptly. "I don't want to die, cornered and hunted, waiting for the Dark Lord's whim to kill me."

Harry watches pale lashes flutter over pale grey orbs and says nothing. There is no comfort to give now.

Draco turns to him suddenly and grabs his hand. "Ride out with me. Ride out with me and meet them head on." His eyes are feverish, his cheeks flushed, his voice urgent, and Harry understands at once.

"Yes," he says gaining strength. "Yes. At dawn, we ride."

Draco nods, suddenly alive once more and Harry gets up to tell the others.

--

Awhile later Harry stands at the window watching the black fade to charcoal fade to pale to grey. Draco comes up to stand beside him.

"The darkness is lifting," he says.

Harry nods. "As it always will."

Draco looks at him and Harry knows he understands.

"I'm glad to be here with you, Draco," Harry says softly. "Here, at the end of all things."

Draco smiles gently and reaches out to touch his face. Wordless comfort and understanding pass between them, a last flicker of what could have been, and they're suspended in that moment as the sun rises above the trees, glittering rays caressing their faces.

"It is time," Harry says.

--

They are waiting now, once more, at the head of the mass of broom-mounted fighters. Nervous anticipation fills the air. This is a different kind of waiting, a different kind of nervousness. They are alive one final time.

Harry turns to the rest and they instantly fall silent. He takes in their hungry, pleading faces. They're looking to him to lead them to their salvation and their doom.

Harry's never been much one for speeches, but he realizes this, more than anything, is the pivotal moment of his life.

"Defenders of the Light, we have come now to the end. We go to make our final stand." He gains momentum as he speaks.

"There are some who'd say there is no hope. But my friends, there is always hope. And as long as there are those who believe in it, no victory of the dark is complete. So ride with me now and fear no darkness. This may very well be our end, but I will have us make such an end to give hope to all."

He stands before them, tall and proud, blazing with passion and conviction, and they see in him the leader they so need.

"Ride now," he thunders. "Ride now! Ride to ruin and the world ending!"

They let out a cry, a cry of agreement, of battle-lust, of anguish and loss, and yet of hope.

Harry mounts his broom and looks one last time at Draco. They share a timeless exchange and a final nod, and then Harry's off, leading them down the hall and the center of the stairs.

The death eaters below stumble back stunned as the mass of mounted fighters descend on them burning with glory and righteousness – harbingers of the morning, as the brilliant sun follows.

Morning has come to Hogwarts.


End file.
